Square and Compass 1917

In 1928, the fraternity reached its peak. In subsequent years, due to the effect of the Great Depression, the fraternity grew consistently smaller. By the end of the Second World War, the fraternity existed only on paper. Some of the national officers (particularly Dr. William Moseley Brown) kept the charter and corporation papers of the fraternity in force. In the late 1940's, several of the members of the fraternity expressed a desire that the organization be revived on local college campuses. They, realizing that most college students were not old enough to be Master Masons, removed the Master Mason only clause and allowed chapters to open their membership to non-Masons. Soon, due to the efforts of Dr. Brown, four chapters were organized. These four chapters held a national meeting in Richmond, Virginia on December 30, 1950. The following year, a national meeting was held in Cincinnati, Ohio at which time the name Sigma Alpha Chi and the Declaration of Principles were approved.

In 1951 at the national convention of Sigma Alpha Chi, a discussion between representatives from Sigma Mu Sigma and Sigma Alpha Chi regarding the possibility of a merger of the two fraternities took place. At that time it was found that the ideals and objectives of Sigma Mu Sigma and Sigma Alpha Chi were almost identical. After a year of discussion and planning, a meeting was held at Angola, Indiana on August 3, 1952 for the purpose of merging the two organizations. It was decided that the merged group should be called Sigma Mu Sigma - Square and Compass. Brothers were present at the meeting from all of the active chapters of both fraternities. Included were representatives from:

Alpha Chapter, Tri-State College
Kappa Chapter, Medical College of Virginia
Lambda Chapter, Elon College
Mu Chapter, Chase College